teaching english in russia... teaching english in ukraine

Teaching English in Russia used to be quite lucrative , with one English tutor back in 2020 saying they made up to $10,000 a month...

It's not quite so easy today, with rather dramatic news last summer that the American Robert Woodland teaching English in Russia was handed a 12-year jail term over drug charges - and last month it was reported that Russia has tortured an American teacher due to his nationality: he was accused of allegedly fighting for Ukraine.

And it's becoming more difficult to teach freely, with the Kremlin’s campaign to make education more ‘patriotic’ reaching English language classes with a new ‘Glorious Russia’ textbook, also last year.

Here's an interesting view from an American teacher of English at an official government school in Moscow, where she felt she was an Employee of the State, Enemy of the State:

I taught English as a Foreign Language in Moscow between 2019 and 2022, through mass student protests, increasing restrictions on freedom of speech, and, finally, a total break with Western institutions after February of last year. I taught a chilling set of classes only hours after Russia began bombing Kyiv. And as the government cracked down on connections with perceived enemies of the state, banned Facebook, Instagram, and the BBC, my students did not know how they should relate to me—the “enemy”—nor I them.

And last month, Moscow’s British Council ban has made living and studying abroad more difficult for Russians:

Russia on Thursday declared the British Council an “undesirable organization,” a move that is likely to make it more difficult for Russian citizens to study and live abroad. The British Council is one of the organizers of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), one of the world’s most widely used academic English exams for non-native speakers. By outlawing the British Council as “undesirable,” any cooperation with the organization is now illegal in Russia. Experts warn that this may also imply the British Council-administered IELTS test.

On the other hand, teaching English in Ukraine has been facilitated by the government there, with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and Cambridge signing an agreement on English language cooperation

And there are plenty of stories of individuals helping out - for example, a retired Michigan teacher who packed up his life and moved to war-torn Ukraine.

Because there's a real push now when it comes to teaching English in Ukraine - as language schools and tutors cope with high demand.

This demand is also political - with English as our ‘intellectual weapon’, says one Ukrainian military teacher:

“Commanders and personnel there wanted to implement English courses because a year ago, it was obvious that Ukraine would get military aid, weapons and support from our Western allies.”

And the government is pushing for English language proficiency:

Ukraine is implementing comprehensive measures to promote English proficiency, providing free language courses and integrating the language into the entire education system starting from kindergarten.

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